Two teens from Italy in Portland, ME over the summer. One teen librarian. What the heck is gonna bring them together? It’s not a mind blowing idea. But I will tell you this…it works. Here’s our simple story about how we bonded thanks to some technology. For the first two days, our interaction was limited to “computer” and “yes”. They wanted the computer and I was happy to provide them with access. It seemed to be the one bright point in their time at the library. They could log onto to Facebook and chat with their friends back home. Smiles […]
Monthly Archives: July 2010
11 posts
I had a great time at Friday’s workshop with school librarians, technologists and staff from Region 10 in Richardson, TX. I presented a full morning version of “the Hyperlinked School Library.” The slides are here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/239835/HyperlinkedSchoolLibraryTX.pdf I appreciate all of the discussion and sharing!
I was recently interviewed for an email blast for ILI2010. Hope to see you in London in October! Here’s the text: Internet Librarian International continues to provide pertinent resources and support for today’s information environments. With the shifting emphasis on information provision; constantly-evolving methods for delivering it; increased demands from users; and tighter than ever budgets, we asked Advisory Board member, Michael Stephens, for his views on the future for library technologies and more … Read the full Internet Librarian International programme here. I would have to say the advent of participatory technologies has been the single most important technology […]
Brian and Michael, originally uploaded by pelicanwind. I was in Texas last Thursday and Friday. One highlight was driving up to Denton to meet up with my PhD advisor, mentor and friend Dr. Brian O’Connor. We had a nice chat about teaching, LIS education and technology while enjoying a stroll around Denton’s courthouse. It was 8 billion degrees though! 🙂
Jeff Trzeciak provides more information about McMaster University Library’s transformation to blended services: http://ulatmac.blog.lib.mcmaster.ca/2010/07/22/reference-desk-gone-2nd-post/ (bold emphasis is mine) In other words, only around 40% are really “research-related” questions. The remaining 60% are largely directional. In a subsequent blog post I reported on the breakdown between in-person, email and IM transactions. These statistics indicate that only 82% of the volume is taking place within one of our buildings. The remaining 18% is virtual. So, a decline of nearly 2/3 from our high, coupled with 18% of the assistance now being virtual and only 40% being research-related. Sounds like a candidate for […]
Jeff Trzeciak writes: http://ulatmac.blog.lib.mcmaster.ca/2010/07/15/reference-desk-gone/ After much planning and hard work the last of our reference desks is gone! Our library has completed the transition to “blended services” where library assistants handle most of the transactions at combined service points (circulation, interlibrary loan, research help). Our business library was the first to go in this direction around one year ago followed by our science/engineering library. Finally, I came in this morning to find that the last of our reference desks is now gone! Between 2009-2010 our Research Help Desk answered 21771 questions. As with many ARL libraries this number is down substantially. […]
Another cool initiative I became aware of at Annual is the Crave Libraries project. Skokie PL’s Toby Greenwalt appeared to give me these two buttons. What a wonderful promotion and way of thinking! Find out more here: http://www.cravelibraries.com/ But know that the project is just starting. Toby writes: I’m also going to be drumming up interest in Crave Libraries, a new semi-secret project I’m brewing up with Daniel Nguyen. (A debt of gratitude is also owed to Jason Kucsma, who coined the phrase and has graciously allowed us to run with it. Jason, look me up at ALA, as I […]
Justin and the 8bit tat he got at Annual, originally uploaded by The Shifted Librarian. One of the highlights for my very brief time at ALA Annual in DC was having lunch with Justin Hoenke, He writes for TTW as a Contributor, blogs at 8BitLibrary and other blogs, and was a 2010 Emerging Leader on Team J. I was the Team J mentor. Take a look at this: http://blog.8bitlibrary.com/2010/07/08/project-brand-yourself-a-librarian-the-aftermath-part-1/ Justin added a Link (I had it wrong – updated!) tattoo to his collection, which also includes a library logo on the other arm. (See http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelsphotos/4743185541 What a unique way to […]
Library Signage, originally uploaded by calicorocklib. Don’t miss this: Our desire to avoid confrontation and our inability to understand the user get in the way of providing the highest level of service. Bad signs exist in all types of libraries, victimizing users without bias and leading to some unwelcome encounters. It makes me wonder if a bad sign is truly better than nothing or just making things worse. Signs can serve several functions but generally fall into two categories: library marketing and communicating library policies. Many librarians and administrators agree that it’s important to communicate that the library is a […]